There’s one fewer hedge fund manager seeking election to Congress this year, after Pennsylvania’s Chris Paige threw in the towel over the weekend.

The Paige Capital Management founder had been seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) in northeastern Pennsylvania’s 11th congressional district. He blamed his Republican primary opponent, Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, for launching a legal battle over Paige’s nominating petitions, as well as family matters for his decision.

“My wife and I need some time alone to grieve the loss of our child,” he wrote in a blog post on his campaign Web site. Paige and his wife have struggled with infertility.

As for the legal challenges to his candidacy, the former Democrat said he was “confident that I would prevail,” but that “a protracted legal battle would not advance the causes I believe in, and—ultimately—those issues are more important than my personal political fortunes.”

Paige’s exit from the race leaves Barletta unopposed for the Republican nomination. It will be his third try against Kanjorski, who has been in Congress since 1985 and is the second-highest-ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee. Barletta lost to Kanjorski in 2002 and, despite a consistent poll lead, in 2008.

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